The Director of the Legislative Information Service (LIS) Mr. B. McCarthy Weh, has written House Speaker Bhofal Chambers and Senate President Pro-Tempore, Albert Chie, calling for rewriting of the History of the Liberian Legislature and by extension, the Republic of Liberia.
“The LIS in June of 2017 invited Madam Munah Pelham-Youngblood to a roundtable dialogue on “writing/rewriting of the history of the Liberian Legislature and by extension the Republic of Liberia”, the communication reads.
It recalled that as keynote speaker, the fallen lawmaker used the opportunity to launch what she referred to as “one of her signature undertakings”, the history writing/rewriting project, and emphasized a compelling need for digitization of the Legislature and creation of a website for that body to provide public access to its records.
It said the late Representative Youngblood then vowed to seek support of her colleagues through written communication.
The communication continued that she also submitted a communication to the plenary of the House of Representatives the next session day immediately following the event, urging the House to own and sponsor such project under a legislative endeavor, but nothing much was heard of in that regard till her death.
“LIS respectfully informs you through this medium that LIS has written the House of Representatives, requesting it to make Rep. Youngblood’s ‘history writing/rewriting’ quest a ‘memorial legacy project’ to be backed by digitization of the legislature.”
It pleads with the Legislature to provide budgetary support, beginning this 2020/2021 fiscal year, as its implementation will legislatively memorialize her.
Director Weh intimated that the 54th Legislature in general and the legislative caucus of the ruling Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) particularly must remember the late Representative Munah-Pelham Youngblood in a more meaningful way via the project, which was her wish.
He urged that the Legislature should do so in addition to the usual temporal but solemn pomp and pageantry as well as powerful eulogies that characterized her funeral and interment rites.
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He narrated that to date, the legislature, inclusive of its archives and entire repository unit, is yet to be digitized and lacks operational website.
This has and continues to cause serious embarrassment for the institution as Liberians in and out of the country have expressed disappointments repeatedly in the legislature over failure to have this august body digitized in the past 14 years with just two years (out of the 14) of website services sponsored by USAID.
By E. J. Nathaniel Daygbor
